1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for obtaining breast milk. More particularly, the present invention relates to a breast cup for expressing breast milk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Breast pump systems using breast cups for obtaining breast milk, both manually and automatically, are known in the art. Conventional breast cups use a vacuum source to generate a negative pressure or vacuum that is transmitted to a breast hood or cup, which is placed on the breast. Typically, such breast cups are disposed remote from the breast pump when in use and the negative pressure or vacuum is transmitted to the breast hood or cup via tubing or conduit.
The conventional devices suffer from the drawback of requiring the vacuum source and the breast milk to be in fluid communication, which can result in breast milk entering the tubing and even worse, entering the breast pump. This results in unwanted clean up, as well as potential damage to the system. Additionally, conventional breast cups suffer from the drawback of failing to apply an adequate massaging action upon the breast to facilitate expression of milk. Such devices often provide a breast hood or cup that impinges upon the nipple resulting in discomfort to the user.